LEARNING BY DOING: THE 21st CENTURY LEARNERS

Due to individual differences and advances in technology, students nowadays learn things in various ways. Some students learn based on what they see; others learn based on what they hear; and some others learn based on what they personally experience. Of course, it will always be a case to case basis, but what is important is that the person actually learns.

In the digital age in which we are in today, it transpired that the 21st century learners are more competent in learning by doing or as we know, the experiential learning. It has been believed that there is no better way to learn something than to have an actual first-hand experience on it. Because the learners are experiencing the actual scenario they are able to provide their own style in order to maximize the learning. The learners also develop the ability to multi-task since most of their senses are working and tasks are actually given to them. They also try to maximize their possessions. They become more responsible for their actions and for their learnings.

The reason why the K-to-12 education, most especially the Senior High School, provides a lot of laboratory works and equipment which are included in the curriculum and lesson plan is because they are after with the outputs produced by the students. Thus, the outcomes-based education for this generation’s learners is very applicable; they would want the students to deal with situations and to produce output.

For the 21st century learners to instill the learning within them the teacher should also take responsibility in guiding the students while they perform such tasks. They should provide various strategies in teaching experiential learning but should not monopolize the learning process; it should always be a student-centered one.